NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Saint Joseph’s Manu Ghigliotti and Massachusetts' Marlise van Tonder earned Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year honors, respectively, while Hawks' freshman Sol Borensztein was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year, per a league announcement Thursday. Barb Weinberg of Massachusetts and Lynn Farquhar of Saint Joseph’s shared A-10 Co-Coach of the Year accolades. 
 
The Atlantic 10 announced the four superlative awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams ahead of the start of the 2021 A-10 Field Hockey Championship, which begins Friday at Ellen Ryan Field in Merion Station, Pa. The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10 field hockey coaches while the All-Academic team was selected by the field hockey communications directors.
 
Ghigliotti, a native of Malvinas, Argentina, scored 11 goals, three of which were game-winners, and recorded one assist for 23 points, ranking second in goals and fourth in points amongst fellow league competitors. She tied for second-best in game-winning goals (3) and finished third in the A-10 for total shots (59). The sophomore forward was named to the All-Conference First Team and All-Rookie Team.
 
van Tonder led a Minutewomen defense that surrenderred just 17 goals under her watch this season, good for second-best league-wide. A native of Pretoria, South Africa, van Tonder also collected 98 saves, which ranked third on the A-10 leaderboard, and posted six shutouts. She was also named to the All-Conference First Team.
 
Borensztein, a native of Pilar, Argentina, recorded six goals, two of them game-winners, and two assists for 14 overall points, good for a tie at eighth for both goals and game-winning scores within the league. She was also named to the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Rookie Team. 
 
Weinberg earned her first Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award after leading the Minutewomen to a 13-5 season overall as well as a 5-2 mark in conference play en route to the No. 3 seed in the A-10 Championship. The Minutewomen are currently slotted 18th nationally in the NFHCA Coaches Poll with victories over three ranked programs on the year (No. 10 Boston College, No. 11 Saint Joseph's and No. 18 UConn). Weinberg has led the Minutewomen to three Atlantic 10 Championship appearances with an overall record of 33-28 and a conference record of 18-6.
 
Farquhar, an eight-year veteran at Saint Joseph's, picked up her fifth Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year award after leading the Hawks to a 14-4 overall record and a 6-1 conference record, good for the top seed heading into the championship. Under Farquhar's leadership, the Hawks have claimed four Atlantic 10 regular-season titles and won three Atlantic 10 Championships. She has also guided the Hawks to national prominence as SJU enters the postseason currently ranked 12th in the NFHCA Poll with wins over four Top 25 opponents (No. 4 North Carolina, No. 8 Rutgers, No. 12 Boston College and No. 24 Ohio State).
 
Joining Ghigliotti and van Tonder on the All-Conference First Team are Georgie McTear of UMass, Steffie Bongers and Lindsey Frank of Richmond, Cassidy Atchison, Katy Benton and Freke van Tilburg of Saint Joseph’s and Litiana Field, Maite Sturm and Janne Wetzel of VCU. 
 
The All-Conference Second Team includes Tatum Johnson and her La Salle teammate Sofia Pla, Lock Haven’s Martina Spangenberg, Jess Beech, Steph Gottwals and Josie Rossbach of UMass, Olivia Frazier of Richmond, Borensztein and her SJU teammate Anna Miller and VCU’s Sasha Elliott and Svea Sturm. 
 
Johnson, Beech, Atchison, both Sturm sisters and Wetzel were all named All-Academic along with Izzy Moody of Davidson, Tori Wright of La Salle, Saint Joseph’s Nicholl Fenton, Jordan BeSore of Saint Louis and VCU’s Mackenzie Williams.
 
The All-Rookie team consisted of Pla, Borensztein and Ghigliotti as well as Macy Curtis of Davidson, Lock Haven’s Jasmine Miler and Zhao Rodrigo, UMass’ Dempsey Campbell, Aiden Drabick of Saint Joseph's, Saint Louis' Lotte Teunissen and VCU’s Camila Rosenbrock and Carolina Mujica-Robles.
 
The 2021 Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Championship begins with two Friday semifinal matches between No. 1 Saint Joseph’s and No. 4 Richmond in the first semifinal at 11 am ET and No. 2 VCU and No. 3 Massachusetts in the second semifinal at 2 pm ET. The championship final will be played Saturday at 1 pm ET. All three matches of the A-10 Championship will be streamed live on ESPN+.